The Shadow Chronicles: Forgotten
by Loonaticslover13
Summary: One day Ace just got up and left HQ. No note or explanation. Just left without a trace...Until two years later when the Loonatics find him bleeding, passed out and with amnesia in the middle of nowhere with a mysterious necklace. As the team struggles with their duties, emotions, and finding Ace's memories, evil is on the rise. Some things can't be forgotten. All Loonatics included
1. The Start

Forgotten

By Loonatics Lover13

* * *

It wasn't exactly an ordinary day. After all, the five Loonatics rarely got time off. And yes, I said five. It was the awkward time of the year when March is becoming a lamb, only for April showers to come early. It wasn't raining, but the sky was very cloudy. There was another reason it wasn't an ordinary day, and it was that reason that the Loonatics weren't in their HQ. Zadavia, sensing how they felt about this painful day, gave them time off.

None of them wanted to be alone, so they strapped on their jetpacks and flew to a more deserted part of Acmetropolis, where there was a forest next to a cliff with a water fall. Their "so-called" leader had originally shown them this place; it was so peaceful and quiet and safe -a nice change from their hectic lives they had still be adjusting to, they had only been a team for a month at that point. It had been seven years since then.

It hurt somewhat to come, because their leader, Ace Bunny, had one day just got up and left. No note, no explanation, nothing. No trace of where he had gone or why he had gone. They had discussed in depth what might've made me leave once they had scoured Acmetropolis for him (even Rev's GPS couldn't find him). The only thing they could find was that Lexi (who was best friends with the other bunny) said Ace had been acting a bit strange and uneasy for the previous weeks. She had asked what was bothering him, but he hadn't told her what, and she knew from experience that eventually he would tell her after a few days. Only he hadn't. He had kept it, and she kept holding on to the hope he would tell her (he could take days to tell her sometimes, depending on what it was -fears about the team, or a nightmare maybe). And then he had just left. They had tried looking for weeks, but eventually because of their duties to the city, they had to give up the search. They didn't know what to assume. If he was dead Rev still could've found him. So they had no idea of what had become of him. Even Zadavia and all the people working for her couldn't find him.

Today was the day he had left. The second anniversary. Lexi was grateful that they weren't in HQ, because there was so much of him there. This was a good way to take her mind off things, and she could tell her teammates felt the same. They were currently flying around on their jetpacks, having fun and performing tricks and acting like kids.

**"Look at what I can do," **Duck boasted, smirking. He took off his jetpack and held onto with one hand. He flicked it off right before quacking. The machine fell, and Tech gasped, muttering **"my baby" **when Duck appeared below, once again perfectly strapped in and he flicked the jetpack on so it zoomed up before it could hit the ground. Rev and Slam applauded while Duck did a bow. **"Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen!"**

**"You do know I'm the only lady here right Duck?" **Lexi asked.

Duck snorted. **"Barely a lady if you ask me." **Lexi was about to retort when Duck suddenly moved closer to the lower to the ground of the forest clearing. **"What's that?" **He pointed at something on the ground. It was hard to make out. It didn't look like a plant or a pile of boulders that were scattered around the clearing or around the place where the water from the water fall poured in.

Tech squinted from the air at whatever it was. **"It looks like a hurt animal. But hunting's illegal in this part of the city, did it get attacked?" **Being anthros themselves, and therefore descendants (no matter how distantly) of animals, the Loonatics and most anthros had soft spots for them.

**"Ghffalffejhelp," **Slam suggested. Rev nodded in agreement.

**"I-think-Slam's-right-we-should-help-it-I-mean-if-it-got-attacked-by-an-animal-why-hasn't-the-attacker-come-to-finish-the-job-?" **Rev said.

**"Well, our job is to help people, why not help an animal?" **Lexi said. After Ace had left she had become the team leader, with Tech her second in command. The five of them held the power of the jetpacks down to allow them to go further down until they landed in the clearing. It wasn't a windy day, so no other noises besides the cheerful chirping of birds interfered with her super hearing. Tapping into her power, she allowed herself to see if the animal, that was still hidden by a cluster of boulders, was still breathing. The heartbeat, for some reason, seemed to be somewhat familiar. She shrugged the feeling off. She had never really listened to animal heartbeats before; they probably just resembled her teammates' a little.

Tech led the way to the pile of boulders, and gasped when he turned the corner. It wasn't an animal. It was a gray bunny anthro, male by the looks of it, in a torn, muddy and especially bloody jeans and a t-shirt that had half of it ripped off, revealing a wound in his side.

**"Oh my god..." **Lexi trailed off. Why did this bunny look almost...familiar? And why was he bleeding, unconscious and in the middle of nowhere? She looked towards Tech, for he was the medic of the team, for guidance. **"What should we do?" **

Tech was already bending down, waiting while a small metallic machine from his jean pocket unfolded itself into a first aid kit. He took some gauze and bandages out and began to treat the numerous wounds and cuts, before wrapping them carefully with the bandage. It showed just how many places the bunny had been hurt. The wound on his side, a deep cut in his arm, and there was dried blood in the fur on top of his head. His ears were still standing straight, and the coyote thought that the bunny too looked familiar. He shared a glance with Lexi and she nodded; she thought the same thing.

Sighing, Tech stood up once he had healed all the injuries he could. He decided to address the thought that he and Lexi shared. **"This may sound odd, but does he look...familiar to any of you?" **

**"Yeah," **Duck, Slam and Rev said together.

**"That-is-strange-maybe-we've-seen-him-on-TV-or-something," **Rev suggested. Even as the roadrunner said it he knew it wasn't the case. **"I-should-be-able-to-find-out-who-he-is-with-my-GPS." **The avian's eyes glowed red for a moment before the colour faded. Rev looked back and forth between the rabbit on the ground and his teammates, dumbfounded. **"Oh my-" **For once words failed him, and his shock slowed down his speech. **"You guys, this is Ace."**

Lexi looked at him confused. Surely she must've misheard things. That must be possible, even with super hearing right? **"W-what did you just say Rev?"**

**"This-bunny-is-Ace," **Rev told her.

**"Wha-? It can't be, there's no way. Your GPS must be wrong," **the doe insisted. This couldn't be happening. Ace had left them. Left her. It couldn't be him. She wouldn't allow it to be him.

The coyote of the team however had bent down and was moving the bunny's eyelid out of the way. If it truly was their former leader, he would have sapphire eyes. Ace was the only one they had ever seen with that eye colour. If it wasn't popular among humans, and humans made up at least ninety percent of the population, the odds of finding another gray rabbit around Ace's age with the same eye colour was almost improbable.

Tech stared at the sapphire eye staring back at him. He let the eyelid go back in place, grateful that the rabbit -or should he say Ace, hadn't been woken up by the movement. He wouldn't know what to do if Ace woke up. What do you say to a person that deserted you with no explanation and you didn't know if they were alive or not for the past two years? Talk about awkward.

**"It's him," **Tech said firmly. **"Let's check his pockets for any clues to how he got here." **Rev zoomed over and searched the jeans Ace was wearing. Nothing was in any of them. That was strange; the roadrunner figured that the Guardian Strike Sword's hilt would've been with Ace -it was the only thing the bunny had taken with him. Although there was something different; he was wearing a simple necklace with a black string and a ring. Rev squinted at the inscription engraved onto the ring.

**"It-says: 'Res-deperditas-sit semper-referri-sed sciendum-est-quod-petis-donec-te-exhibe-quem-enim-diligit-et-sacrificemus-reddet-tibi-quod-petis.' That-sounds-like-latin." **

**"It is,"** Tech said thoughtfully. **"I think I know a little bit of what it says. Lost things...will come back. Something you seek will be given -when you prove-"**

That was as far as the coyote got, because Ace's eyes flew open and he cut him off. **"The shadows! I have to go, have to get away!" **He started to get up, wincing. Slam held the bunny down. Ace's blue eyes were wild and scared.

**"Calm down," **Slam told him. Ace struggled a bit more, but once he found there was no breaking the Tasmanian's iron grip, he stopped.

**"Who are ya?" **He demanded. Lexi, who had been trying to get her conflicted emotions (anger, sadness, confusion, and the tiniest bit of happiness) under control, looked at him curiously.

**"You mean you don't know us?" **She asked, overwhelmed with shock and more questions berated her brain.

**"No," **Ace answered. **"I don't know how I got here either." **He seemed to be thinking hard for a while. **"In fact, I don't remember anything."**

**"You just said something about shadows," **Tech said. **"Do you even remember that?"**

**"Just that something's going on, something big..." **Ace trailed off, deeply troubled. If he had said something about shadows only moments ago, why couldn't he remember what the shadows are? And somehow he knew that something big was going to happen. But would it be good or bad?

**"Also, do you know anything about the ring you're wearing? It says: 'Things that are lost always come back. Things that you seek will hide until you prove yourself. And to sacrifice yourself for the one you love will give back what you seek.' in Latin. Does that mean anything to you?" **Tech said, looking Ace straight in the eye.

The bunny shook his head, miserably confused. **"No. I don't even know how I got it. I only remember my name..." **He trailed off. **"My name _is _Ace Bunny right?"** His voice quavered. He was so unsure about so much, but if he didn't even know his own name...

Tech nodded. **"Yes. You're Ace Bunny. Now what the question really is is what we're going to do with you? Should we take you to a hospital?"**

A vision flashed in Ace's mind:

_A little gray bunny stood along a sick bed in the hospital, his father, who looked so similar to him, was stiff in the bed, and his breathing was unsteady and he coughed. The father took one last look at his son. **"I love you son."** The elder bunny stopped breathing. It seemed like the world should have ended too._

_Tears started to flow from the little boy's blue eyes. **"No daddy! No! Come on dad, wake up..." **__His mother took him in her arms as he succumbed to his tears. **"Wake up...please...don't -don't leave me..." **The doctors had done everything they could, but they hadn't been able to save his dad. They failed._

**"No," **Ace said quickly and firmly. The other anthros looked at him curiously. **"N-no hospitals."**

Tech thought for a moment. This was certainly a strange and delicate situation. After all, they had found their leader who just left one day with no explanation, in the middle of nowhere, bleeding, unconscious, with amnesia, with a necklace engraved with a cryptic message in Latin, and said something about shadows. **"Well," **the inventor said slowly, **"you could always come back to our HQ. I could further tend to your injuries and you used to -er," **he paused. How should he put this? **"Be there quite often, so it might help unlock your memories." **He wasn't sure if Ace would be able to handle the whole truth yet; they were still trying to believe Ace was actually here in front of them after all.

**"I'm not sure I wanna remember what got me into this state though," **Ace replied, looking himself up and down. Tech's lips twitched upwards. He was -to some extent, still the same bunny they remembered.

**"Okay," **Lexi said. Her voice was shaky, and she was holding back tears. **"We should get you back to HQ. Rev," **she pointed at the roadrunner, who smiled weakly. Man was it weird to get introduced to someone you knew for (technically) seven years. Rev zoomed over and took Ace's hand.

**"Hold-on-tight!" **Rev told him. The others revved up their jet packs. Soon, with Ace, successfully resisting the urge to scream, the flew up into the air, back towards the city part of Acmetropolis.

A squirrel perched on the edge of a branch near where the Loonatics had found their ex-leader watched them leave. Its eyes glowed red, and a person in a dark room watched from the squirrel's eyes on a screen, watching the Loonatics fly away, using his mechanical animal.

**"Well," **the person chuckled. He had a deep, raspy and cold voice. **"Looks like the rabbit complicated our plans. But no matter. By the time he gets his memories back it'll be too late."**

* * *

_A/N: Okay, officially in love with the bold speech thing. I got a review that said the bold dialogue threw them off because they're used to seeing and using it for putting emphasis on something, so if it throws anybody off, or is a dealbreaker for this story (for some reason..?) tell me and I'll change it to normal speech._

_This was so much fun to write, I have a lot in store for this story! :D Reviews'll help me update sooner (hinthint nudgenudge, if you know what I mean.) So please review. _


	2. Some Questions

As soon as they got back to HQ, Tech helped Ace to the lab. The bunny had been seriously hurt, and the wounds would need new bandages every other day as well. Once Ace was sitting on the hospital-like bed inside the healing part of the lab, Tech handed him a Styrofoam cup with water and a bottle of pills. Ace eyed both warily.

** "It'll knock you out while I work on healing your injuries more. You probably only need two pills."** Ace's unconvinced face remained. **"Just a painkiller," **Tech promised. There was a pause, before Ace took the cup, put two pills on his tongue and then he drank from the cup.

Immediately he felt tired; his eyelids drooped as he lay down on the bed. Tech's face swam in front of him. Finally he fell asleep. The inventor sighed. In the past hour, things had gotten so complicated. Not only was Ace back, alive, he didn't even remember them!

The coyote dressed the wounds and cuts and bruises with a special cream. While doing so, he looked back at the necklace Ace was wearing. _'Things that are lost always come back. Things that you seek will hide until you prove yourself. And to sacrifice yourself for the one you love will give back what you seek.' _What the heck did that mean? What was hidden? Was the thing -or things- that was lost his memories, was that what someone -Ace- was seeking?

His head hurt, so he went back to tending to his ex-leader's injuries. What had given Ace this wound? He took a blood sample; perhaps he could find some DNA or residue of whatever hurt him, and he took some from the dried blood on the top of Ace's head. The wound in his side was deep, and it was fairly recent. Ace had been in the middle of nowhere, had something happened in the surrounding woods? Tech sighed. Until Ace got his memories back -if ever, they still had to consider that possibility- only then would he know the answers.

Once he had re-bandaged over the wound and the cuts, and put the blood sample into a tester (it would take a few hours for the results to come back) he exited the lab.

**"How-is-he?" **Rev asked as soon as Tech came into the main room.

**"The wound on his side is quite deep, I'm running blood tests to see if it gives any clues about what did injured him, and the painkillers I gave him should keep him out of it for a few hours," **Tech explained.

Lexi sighed, wringing her hands the way she always did when she was unsure or nervous about something. **"I guess we should tell Zadavia." **Duck groaned and the others grimaced -how the heck could they explain _this?_- but they knew it had to be done.

They took their seats around the main room table and Slam pressed the button on the hologram. While the machine took a moment to load, Lexi glanced towards the empty space near her right side. It was where Ace's chair used to be. It was taken away once he -well, you know- but the table was meant for six chairs, so there was always more space in between her and the person who was sitting beside her then with the others'.

Zadavia's hologram popped up, with her looking at them curiously. It was rare that they called her. **"Why are you back at HQ?" **she inquired. **"I thought you would spend the whole day out, it's still early."**

**"See, things got," **Lexi searched around for a word. **"_complicated. _We were having fun in a forest area, the one he" **everybody knew who "he" was, **"showed us, when Duck noticed something on the ground that looked like an injured animal, so we flew down to investigate. And well, it was...it was Ace."**

Their boss was shocked. Wha-? **"A-Ace?" **she choked out.

Lexi nodded grimly. **"He was passed out and beaten up pretty badly. The Guardian Strike Sword wasn't with him, but he had a necklace, and there was a Latin message on it...Tech, what was it?"**

**"_'Things that are lost always come back. Things that you seek will hide until you prove yourself. And to sacrifice yourself for the one you love will give back what you seek,'_" **the coyote answered. He picked up on the story. **"Then he woke up, saying something about shadows and how he had to get away. Then he calmed down, and he couldn't remember what he had been saying. He has amnesia. He doesn't remember anything, except for his name." **

The Frelengian's brow was furrowed, deeply troubled. Shadows? Shadows...why did that sound somewhat familiar? **"Where is he?"**

**"In lab. Hurt bad. Tech knock him out, heal injuries,"** Slam answered.

**"When he awakes, call me. I want to speak to him. In the meantime, Tech, can you build a machine that would take a look at his memories?"**

**"Certainly Zadavia, I'll get right on it." **

**"Good. Zadavia out." **Her hologram fizzed out. The Loonatics took seats in the more living-room-like part of the room. Lexi sat on the squashy armchair, hugging her knees to herself.

**"The necklace is odd," **she said. **"I suppose he could be trying to find his memories, but what about this 'love' business?" **She saw the others look at her a bit with solemn expressions. **"Wait, you think _I-_"** she glared at them. One upon a time she may had had feelings for Ace, but those feelings had vanished when he betrayed them. Or at least that's what she told herself. **"As if. Besides, he doesn't remember us at all."**

**"What-about-the-shadows?" **Rev said as for the awkward pause that followed Lexi's words to leave.

**"It could be part of a legend, mythology perhaps," **Tech said thoughtfully.

**"It does sound vaguely familiar to me as well," **Lexi replied. In her few years in university, she had taken an Anciet Cultures and legends class.

**"Maybe the necklace has something to do with it; Latin is a dead language now, but it was common to know in the fifteen hundreds." **Tech continued, before he got up. **"Come on, I wanna see if the ring looks old or not." **The group got up and walked to the lab. Entering, they saw Ace, looking extremely agitated. He was still asleep, but he looked scared and angry. Sympathy surged through Lexi, but she shook it off. He left, and he doesn't remember you anyway.

Meanwhile, Tech was just taking the necklace off, seeing indeed that the ring looked new, when Ace's eyes, glowing yellow, flew open. He snatched the necklace back, looking at all of them with wild eyes. For a moment, when the necklace hadn't been on, Ace seemed to -change. His cheeks became hollower, his eyes bloodshot, his whole body got thinner too. But surely they must have imagined it, because he looked just like he did before now that he was wearing it. And also, something had clicked in his brain.

The hospital. His father. The shadows were the reason his father had died.

**"T-they killed him," **he whispered to himself. Lexi's super hearing picked up on this.

**"Who killed him?" **she asked, trying to sound as calm as possible. Things were just getting more and more complicated.

**"The shadows -I can't remember who they are though- killed my father," **he explained, his voice hollow with grief. Someone had murdered his father.

**"Who was dad?" **Slam said gently.

**"I don't know..." **Ace trailed off.

He couldn't even remember his father's name, Tech thought sadly. **"Do you remember anything besides that?"**

He shook his head, thinking hard. **"No." **The bunny groaned in pain. **"I woke up before the medication was done, didn't I?" **Tech nodded. **"Well," **Ace said, looking himself over, **"I feel okay." **He swung his legs over the bed and placed them shakily on the floor. He took a step and wobbled, about to fall over, when Rev supported him back up. **"Thanks Rev." **The roadrunner supported him until the buck could stand on his own.

**"I don't think you should be standing," **surprisingly, Duck said. Ace glanced up at him. **"If your injuries are still healing, you should be lying down." **

**"I feel-" **Ace began, but then he clutched his head.

_He was panting heavily, looking back at the wreckage of his old black and yellow bike. Keep going forward, he told himself. He took out his Guardian Strike Sword. He had to get away from them._

Ace passed out and fell towards the floor, only for Lexi to catch him this time. Duck helped her hoist him back onto the bed, and they laid him down carefully. There was a quiet ding that made them all jump.

**"The blood test is done," **Tech said once he realized what the ding had meant. He looked over at Ace. **"I think he passed out because he was remembering something. We'll ask him once he wakes up." **The coyote walked across the lab to the keyboard in front of the chair. He sat in it, and started typing. A large hologram popped up in front of him. It was DNA.

**"Just Ace's," **he said to no one in particular. The coyote continued to type. Another hologram popped up: the Guardian Strike Sword. **"The metallic residue left in the blood. But that's odd; Ace took it with him, why would someone have st- I mean, hurt him with it?"**

**"I dunno," **Slam murmured, holding his head in his hands.

Lexi sighed, looking at her confused teammates. She tried to not show how worried or scared she really was; Ace had taught her that, before leaving. None of them had seen it coming; the bunny really had been one hell of an actor. **"C'mon, let's go outside. Tech, why don't you start working on that machine?"**

* * *

It was understandable that Lexi, and the rest of the team, didn't sleep well that night. There were so many questions, very few answers and a lot to think about. With the exception of Tech, since he spent most of the night building the machine that would allow the Loonatics to unlock Ace's memories. As a result, once done making the device, Tech had fallen asleep in his chair, his elbow propped up on the keyboard supporting his head.

**"No..." **he murmured, still asleep. His elbow slid off the keyboard, causing him to whack his head on it, and he awoke with a snort. He sighed and yawned, before turning his chair around, planning to check on the former-leader; Ace's injuries must be nearly healed. Briefly checking his watch, he saw it was already ten. Good, his teammates were awake. He got up drowsily walked past the curtain he had hung (for privacy on both of their accounts). He gaped. Wha-?

The bed was empty. Ace was gone.

_Crud! _the coyote thought. He pressed a button on his arm to activate his communicator. **"Guys, Ace is gone!"**

Rev was the first to zoom into the lab, closely followed by a slightly out of breath Lexi. **"Gone-what-do-you-mean-gone?" **he asked frantically. He examined the empty bed. **"Oh-no-oh-no-he-left-again!" **Duck and Slam entered the lab as well.

Lexi took him by the shoulders. **"Rev," **she said firmly to the panicking roadrunner. **"It's unlikely he left the building, he doesn't remember anything, so he wouldn't even know how to leave through the hangar, and it's a maze to find the regular door. Just check on your GPS."**

Rev took a few deep breaths, calming himself down. His eyes glowed red for a moment, before they returned to their natural colour and he sighed with relief. **"He's just in his old room." **

Lexi only allowed a fraction of how relieved she was to reveal on her face. She sighed. **"Alright, you guys stay here, I'll go get him. We'll try out the memory-machine when we come back."**

It only took a few minutes to reach the bedroom floor, and Lexi walked straight to her old leader's room, which was right beside her own. She put in the key code -years ago, Ace had confided the code to her, only her, and somewhere along the way she memorized it. The doors slid open, more quietly than usual. They probably needed oiling because of the lack of use.

**"Ace?" **she asked hesitantly, stepping in. The bunny's back was to her, and he was sitting on the farthest side of his old bed (they couldn't bare to move anything, so they just sorta forgot about it). **"You OK?"**

**"I -I used to work here, didn't I?" **he said slowly. He swung his legs over to the edge of the bed so he could see her. She nodded and he drew a great, rattling breath. And somehow knowing, even now, what he needed, Lexi began to talk.

She told him how the team had been formed, how he had been the leader, the missions they went on, how she hugged him when she thought she lost him, how he left, how they searched...And finally, her voice dry from talking so much, he smiled at her.

**"Thank you," **he said quietly. Her lips twitched upwards. Then, suddenly, Ace groaned in pain, his eyes shut. A short vision flashed in his mind.

_He was chained to a wall in a dark, dungeon like room. It was so dark he couldn't see the ceiling. The tight metal that bound his wrists to the walls were cold, but the entire room was freezing. He could taste blood in his mouth, and everything hurt. **"You can't keep my here!" **He tried to sound braver than he felt. He struggled against the chains for a moment, but soon knew it was useless. Someone, for he couldn't see anything, cackled. He tried to shoot his laser vision, but he was too weak to._

Putting a hand up to his head as the memory passed, it took a few moments for him to steady his breathing. He opened his sapphire eyes to see Lexi looked at him concerned.

**"Someone kidnapped me," **he said. Lexi sighed, finding it harder and harder to be angry. Ace had gone through such a horrible ordeal.

**"We'll have the answers soon," **she said gently. **"Tech, the coyote, he made a machine that will hopefully unlock your memories."**

And with that said, the two rose and walked back to the lab together.

* * *

_A/N: Okay, first of all, thank you for the reviews, and the favourites! Whoo-hoo. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I found the ending a little tricky, but I'm happy with it nevertheless. I hope this makes up since Against All Odds wasn't updated today. A chapter'll be up by Sunday evening, promise! Please review._


	3. The Shadows

**"Now Ace," **Tech said as he turned a knob on the memory device -something that looked vaguely similar to a small pistol, except it had some sort of cold, pale blue liquid running through a tube on top. **"This will hurt quite a bit." **The former leader nodded. If he could get his memories back, get some _answers, _it would be worth the pain. The coyote placed the machine next to Ace's head, and the tube of the pistol went into his ear. It felt uncomfortable, like when the doctor examines your ears at a check-up. **"Ready?"**

**"Ready."**

And Ace felt immense pain. Everything was spinning, everything hurt, he had a massive headache, and as he shut his eyes in pain, all he could see was a giant key hole, with an equally large key trying to unlock the door it guarded, only for the key to break.

He didn't know exactly how he ended up on the floor; he must've fallen. Sitting up and placing his head in his hands, he was still trying to recover. Tech was bending down, but not over him. Pieces of the broken memory-machine were scattered over the floor. What had happened?

**"What happened?" **Slam asked, scratching his head.

**"T-the machine broke," **Tech said, as he stood back up with the broken pieces in his hand. He laid them on the table. **"Because it couldn't access your memories." **

It was like Ace had been hit in the gut, and disappointment settled in his stomach. **"Why?"**

**"I don't know," **the inventor admitted. It wasn't that the machine was faulty, because he had tested it shortly on himself, and it had worked perfectly. **"But there's something that kept it from working properly. I tested earlier on myself, and it functioned properly, so it must only be a problem for you."**

**"Typical," **Ace said dryly.

There was silence, until Lexi sighed. **"Let's go call Zadavia."**

It only took a few seconds to go to the main room, and call the alien. She popped up, and watched with interest as they explained what had happened. She, with difficulty, hid her disappointment. Although she wasn't nearly as close to Ace as the others, she had still felt hurt and betrayed when he left, and it would've been nice to get answers.

**"Hmm..." **she said thoughtfully, tilting her head to one side. **"Try to figure out what the shadows are...it sounds somewhat familiar to me...if I find anything I will contact you immediately. Zadavia out." **The hologram fizzed out.

Lexi turned to the others. **"Tech and Rev: look for any legends that have to do with shadows. I'm gonna go through my old mythology textbooks. Duck and Slam, you'll look after Ace."**

Surprisingly, Ace was the only one who protested. **"I don't need looking after." **

**"Just a day ago you were passed out and bleeding, and you regularly collapse when you remember something -we're no leaving you alone," **Lexi said firmly. Ace opened and closed his mouth. He sighed, accepting the decision.

Lexi, Tech and Rev got into the elevator. The doors closed, leaving the male bunny, mallard and Tasmanian alone. It was very awkward.

**"So..." **Slam said slowly. **"We could eat?" **he suggested hopefully. The other two decided it was just as good as doing anything else, so they too got into the elevator, and headed to the kitchen.

* * *

Rev's fingers danced upon the keyboard as he typed in legends about shadows. Many things came up, such as: shadow people, something called the Shadow isles, shadow creatures, and many other things. Tech was leaning over his shoulder; the roadrunner was sitting in the chair.

**"This-is-strange..." **he said thoughtfully. He clicked on the title; shadow maze, shadow realm and shadow walker. The page loaded. **"Have-you-ever-heard-of-a-shadow-maze?"**

The coyote shook his head. **"No. I'm guessing you haven't either." **They turned their attention to the screen.

_THE SHADOW REALM_

_A shadow maze is the entrance to the shadow realm. It is very tricky; many who manage to find one end up trapped forever. The shadow realm is so heavily protected by this maze in order to keep the Shadow Walkers hidden. Shadow Walkers are ancient beings who reside in the shadow realm -which in reality, co-exists within our own. Every shadow that is in this realm is also in the shadow realm, but is known as a shadow being and could technically be hurt, although it is rare. Shadow Walkers can go from realm to realm, bent on destroying a person's physical form so only their shadow being remains. This would allow the Shadow Walkers to dominate all shadows -and therefore people, in order to rule both realms. The Shadow Walkers are only able to do this if they have conquered the Shadow King. The Shadow King is their only enemy, and the only one who can defeat their leader, the Shadow Lord._

That was the end of the little piece of writing. Some of the other topics included something called shadow prophecies, and the Shadow King and Shadow Lord, although when Rev -intrigued- clicked on the links, nothing showed up. They must be faulty, he decided. The avian noticed his friend looked uneasy. **"Whatcha-thinking?"**

**"Oh," **Tech said, his line of thought breaking. **"Oh, nothing. Let's go back to the other legends. Maybe we can find something that's actually _real._"**

* * *

Lexi poured over the dusty old hologram books. She wiped the screens clean, and then turned one of the mythology ones. She flipped to the table of contents, looking for anything related to shadows. Nothing. Sighing, she moved to the next book. Same results. Another book. Nothing, another, no, another, same thing. Feeling frustrated, she turned to the last hologram book. She slid over to the contents page, hoping if this book was like the others, Tech and Rev would've had better luck.

The page heading was 'The Shadow Lord'. She began to read.

_The Shadow Lord_

_The Shadow Lord is the ruler of the Shadow Walkers. His original name is Umbra, although only ones who prove themselves worthy can utter the name. Umbra will one day brand his mortal enemy -the Shadow King, by unknown means. Umbra will continue to survive, conquer and destroy until the Shadow King can defeat him. _

_Umbra was the youngest of six brothers in line for the throne of the Shadow Realm. Corrupt with black magic after trying to bring his deceased mother back from the grave, darkness sealed itself in his soul, he murdered his father and elder brothers. He soon ruled over the Shadow Realm with help of his minions, the Shadow Walkers. By using his darkness, he can allow the Shadow Walkers incredible power to do unspeakable horrors._

_Umbra fears only four things. Light, death, the Shadow King, and most of all, love._

That was all that was on the page. A little disappointed there wasn't more, Lexi saved her place in the hologram book, and headed downstairs to the lab.

* * *

After eating, Ace had fallen out of his chair, clutching his head. Duck had panicked for a moment before picking the bunny with Slam's help and together they got into the elevator (there were three separate ones all together in the building). The elevator took them back into the main room, and they laid their former leader on the couch.

**"Do you think he had vision?" **Slam asked the mallard.

**"I dunno," **Duck replied, staring down at Ace, feeling worried. All in all, Duck didn't really know how he felt. It was great that Ace was getting his memories back; Duck wanted some answers and then he would scream himself hoarse at the other Loonatic for leaving... But he was also scared. Something bad -something really bad, had happened to Ace. At the very least someone had attacked him, but Duck thought -as did all the others- that there was so much more to this than just a simple attack, and that there was a much bigger answer to the question of why Ace had left than purely not wanting to be a hero anymore.

Duck watched Slam, who was wondering what to do, check Ace's pulse. It was steady and normal, which relieved the Tasmanian. Answers could come later in his opinion, Ace's health was his top priority. Sure, he had felt hurt when Ace left, but he trusted the male bunny. He must have had a good reason. Slam vaguely thought of when they had been fighting Dr Dare... At one point, a rock monster had pushed him off the cliff. He would never forget how anguished Ace had sounded as he yelled "SLAM!" Ace cared so much for all of them, there had been a good reason about leaving, Slam knew it.

Lexi walked out of the second elevator. **"What happened?" **she said anxiously.

**"He must have had another vision," **Duck said. **"He passed out, so we put him here. He'll probably wake up soon. Did you find anything about the shadows?"**

The pink bunny nodded. **"Yeah, and it's really strange. I'll have Rev and Tech come in here to say what they found." **She pressed a button on her armor's forearm, and lifted it to her mouth. **"Tech, Rev," **her voice sounded through the building's speakers. **"Come to the main room, we're discussing there." **

A few moments passed and then the coyote and roadrunner walked out of the elevator. Rev zoomed over to the couch. **"Oh-my-gosh-is-that-Ace-is-he-okay-did-he-have-a-f lashback-I-guess-so-huh-hey-you'll-never-believe-w hat-Tech-and-I-found-" **Tech clamped the bird's beak shut.

**"Okay Rev. Now, who's going to explain first?"**

After Lexi, Tech and Rev had each in turn explained what they had found, the group sat in the silence, thinking hard. The two bits they had found were obviously about the same legend. They were both about shadows. They talked about the shadows being something dangerous, something horrible, to a person called the Shadow King. The Shadow King... probably someone who was male, and Ace was a young man...

Tech kept getting frustrated. Legends and myths tended to have _some _truth to them, but this was simply outrageous! Another realm full of shadows... Of course, the inventor thought, according to scientific studies there are an infinite number of alternate universes... but one full of shadows?! He dismissed the idea. This was not fact. It was fiction. Fantasy. It wasn't true, and it would be pointless to set anything by it.

The coyote thought back to what the buck had first said:

_"The shadows! I have to go, have to get away!" _

He had been anxious, scared and desperate. Tech doubted it had been a dream that had spooked his ex-teammate so much. Perhaps there was a modern society that called themselves the shadows, perhaps they were terrorists or gangsters and Ace's deceased father had gotten caught up with them and that's why he died. Tech also reflected upon what had happened when he had attempted to take the ring off Ace. It was a strange ring, and incredibly old. The bunny had woken up immediately, almost as if he could sense the ring coming off, and when he hadn't been wearing it, Ace had looked weaker. It had seemed like there had been some sort of power in the ring. But the canine had never seen or heard of anything like it... He sighed.

He turned towards Ace, wondering if he attempted to take the ring off again if Ace would wake up. He walked over and wrapped two fingers around the ring, when the room vanished, and Tech found himself standing in Ace's memory.

* * *

_**A/N: A cliffhanger! Well, sort of. Ace's memory is going to be good, I promise.**_

_**I'd also like to apologize for taking so long for this chapter (and it isn't even that long!) :( Seriously, just go ahead and hate me. But if you'd like to read on, that's fine too. I also want to apologize for not updating ATO (Against the Odds) lately. Life's been crazy, and I've been working like a psycho person on my original novel (yay! It's coming along pretty well, if I do say so myself.) :) Forgive me?**_

_**In case any of you have been wondering (here's to you Mitch 566) yes, the inscription on Ace's necklace was made by me. Also, the info on the Shadow Realm, Maze, Walkers, King and Lord is entirely mine as well. I like being creative! **_

_**I'd like to say that reviews (I do love them dearly though, so thank you) will help me update soon, but we all know that's false... *sigh*  
Review anyway? *hopeful smile* :)**_


	4. The Past And Present

The room formed around Tech, hazy at first, but it slowly came into clearer vision.

It was a kitchen. The wooden cabinets were nicely polished, the granite counter tops shined, and two bunnies stood in the room. One was very young, probably only four, with stubby ears, gray fur and sapphire eyes. The other bunny was older, maybe around thirty, with brown fur, brown bangs and bright green eyes. _This must be Ace's mother, _Tech thought.

**"Mommy," **the younger Ace said. His voice was high, and it was strange to hear when Tech was so used to how Ace sounded when he was older. The Brooklyn accent, however, was there. **"What's this?" **The little bunny held up his right palm. In the centre was a spiral-shaped mark. Tech knew the mark, everyone on the team did. It was a birthmark Ace had.

Ace's mother pursed her lips. She seemed uneasy, although she hid it well. Tech figured that her son had no idea how he was feeling. **"It's just a birthmark," **she answered. She had the Brooklyn accent as well. Ace only looked more curious.

**"Sure is strange," **he commented, staring at it. The doorbell rang and Ace's face lit up. **"It's daddy!" **The younger bunny dashed from the room, and female rabbit sighed, looking a little worried.

**"It's much more than strange..." **she muttered, sounding anxious. Then a male bunny came in, Ace on his shoulders, and Ella smiled, the male bunny and Ace laughing.

The kitchen disappeared. Another memory came up.

Ace's mother, Ace, and a bunny who Tech assumed was Ace's father were walking along a fairly empty street. Although the family was moving, Tech was somehow rooted to the spot, and the family never looked any farther away. Wind blew their ears behind him. The male bunny looked a lot like Ace; same sapphire eyes, but with even darker fur. Ace seemed to be a little older in this one; maybe five. **"Who's that man daddy?" **he asked, pointing across the street with his right hand. A person was waiting at a bus stop, although his head was pointed in their direction, not the way the bus would be coming. The figure was in black clothing, and a scarf covered their face except for their dark eyes.

Then Ace retracted his hand, clutching it as though in pain. The spiral shaped birthmark looked darker than it had before. **"Ow!" **he yelped. His mother bent over him while his father looked in the person's direction. Only the person was gone now, although no bus had come.

**"Get to the car," **the male bunny said quickly. The female bunny looked up at him, as if asking 'are you sure?' **"Get to the car Ella. I'll be along in a minute."**

Ella's eyebrows knit together. **"Be careful Tom." **She gripped Ace's hand tightly, as though afraid something might take him away. The two started walked away, while Tom remained behind, seemingly looking for something or someone. Ace looked confused, but stayed silent.

And the scene faded again.

This time Tom and Ace were in a car. Ace was sitting in the backseat, again, older. Probably around six or seven, and he looked unhappy. Tom was in the driver's seat, keeping his eyes on the road. Ace seemed to be complaining. **"Do we hafta move again?" **he whined. It clear to the coyote that this was not the first time the small family had uprooted themselves. Tom frowned. Again, Tech was somehow not in the car, yet could see everything.

**"Yes, I'm sorry son, but we do."**

**"Why?"**

**"It's for my job," **Tom said. He seemed a bit anxious, for some reason, Tech noted. **"Now, we're meeting Mommy at the house, and if you're good maybe she'll let you have an extra cookie." **Ace smiled at the prospect.

Then something went horribly wrong. A car swerved in front of them from the opposite lane. Tom slammed on the breaks. The cars smashed together. The windshield broke. The airbags went off, but a second too late. Shards of glass had already hit Tom. Ace was crying. Tech knew immediately that this was how his teammate's father had died. But Ace had said it was murder... how?

Tech looked at the other car. Nobody was sitting in the driver's seat. Perhaps they had been knocked over. The other car's front seat seemed to zoom closer to him. Nothing was there. No evidence that anyone had been in there. There was no area where a person could've been thrown backwards. There wasn't even a small butt imprint on the seat. Just like the man on the street, however had been sitting here had vanished.

And the scene changed again.

Ace was only a little older. Definitely seven at this point though. He was standing in what looked to be like a wooden cottage. The floor creaked under his feet as he walked to a circular wooden table in the cabin's kitchen. On top of the table was a note; Ace picked it up. Tech could see what it said.

_Dear Ace,_

_I'm sorry, but I can't livE without your father anymore. It's too hard. I would haVe drowned myself in the lake by this time, since you're reading thIs. I'm so sorry sweetie, I Love you so much. You've been my life, sweetheArt. I proMise the orphAnage won't be too bad. Please, one day, forgIve me.  
Love,  
Mommy_

Ace took the paper and crumpled it in his hand. He stuffed it in his jean pocket, and began to sob. They wracked his small form, and weight him down. He fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face.

His mom had committed suicide? Oh God... Tech felt his head spinning. Poor Ace, he had had no idea that things had been this bad... There was something odd about the letters though. Why were some capitalized and others weren't? Tech supposed it was just a mistake. Writing your own suicide note must be hard. She must have done it accidentally, he decided...

* * *

Suddenly, Tech was back in HQ's main room. He was sitting on the couch. Ace's ring was still in his fingers. Feeling numb, he let it drop. The others were staring at him.

**"Your-eyes-were-glowing!" **Rev told him, looking worried. **"They-were-glowing-for-at-least-five-minutes-but-w e-were-afraid-to-try-to-move-you." **Ace was still lying on the couch. Clearly, just having the ring touched wouldn't wake him up; you had to take it off.

**"I just had the weirdest experience," **Tech told them. He gave them the quick version of what they had seen. When he was done, Lexi had tears in her eyes. Rev couldn't find anything to say. Duck was in shock. Slam shook his head sadly, wondering why it had happened. **"There was something weird, about the" **he swallowed hard, **"the suicide letter. Some of the letters were capitalized when they shouldn't be."**

**"For God's sake Tech, of course there would be some grammar mistakes!" **Lexi shouted at him. Tech glared at her, frowning.

**"I know," **he said icily. **"I just thought you guys should know." **He sighed angrily. He hoped to be able to go his lab and think, when the alarm went off. Zadavia popped up on the hologram caller.

**"There's a problem at the museum of mythology," **she reported. **"Someone's broken in, and the jewels there are very dangerous. I need you to stop them. Zadavia out." **The hologram vanished.

It was a silent agreement between them that one of them should stay behind, just in case, for Ace. Slam raised his hand, volunteering himself. The others knew why, since if Ace woke up and collapsed at one point, Slam was really the only one who could carry him any distance necessary without any help. With that done, the four other Loonatics headed to the hangar and flew off to the museum of mythology.

* * *

Lexi thought the museum was very creepy. Even with the lights on, the statues cast weird shadows, and some of the pictures depicted horrible images. Some of the statues were quite intriguing though. There was a bust of a woman's head, but she was so ugly, and had hissing snakes for hair. Lexi looked at the plate; it read _Medusa. _She quickly reminded herself not to get distracted. There was a thief here, and this was a mission.

The Loonatics turned the corner and left the room of statues to a room of jewels. Each jewel was on a pedestal, and were breathtakingly beautiful. They glimmered under the bright lights of the ceiling. **"What was the thief after again?" **she asked.

It was Tech who answered. **"That black jewel." **He pointed ahead. On each wall were a line of pedestals, each holding jewels, but at the isle a pedestal was holding a jewel in the middle, obviously the main attraction. It was a very strange looking gem. It was completely black, like a rock, yet it was clearly a jewel. Light glinted off of it.

As the Loonatics approached it, Duck could see what the plate said: the Shadow Jewel. _Why is everything shadows? _he thought glumly. He sighed. It was a cool-looking gem and all, but why would somebody steal it? Surely other artifacts were worth more. **"Why does the thief want it?" **he said.

**"He-"**

**"-or she," **Lexi reminded the coyote.

**"-or she, wants it because it's extremely valuable, and its supposed to have special properties," **Tech explained. **"Rev, can you check if anyone is here on your GPS?"**

The avian snorted. Of course he could. Rev closed his eyes. Slowly, the building faded away, then reappeared, everything cloaked in different shades of red. The corners and rooms zoomed in and out of view. Nobody was around. Finally, he came back to this room. There were his three other teammates... and someone else?

He shut off his GPS for a moment, scanning the room. Nobody was there. He flipped the GPS back on. Again, it said that someone was with them. It must be the thief -maybe they can turn themselves invisible, maybe they got affected by the meteor! **"Guys-I-think-" **

Something hard hit him on the back of his head. Then on his back; his knees buckled and he fell to the floor. He shifted his head to see exactly what was going on now. Duck had quacked himself out of way as the unknown person, still invisible, moved around the room. The mallard ended up near the black shadow gem, waiting and guarding it. Lexi, meanwhile, had engaged the thief.

Unfortunately, she had only her hearing to rely on. Fortunately, it allowed her to land some solid blows on the thief. They were quick, dodging three out of four punches and kicks each time, but once in a while Lexi would really get them. She tried to trip them up. Her leg met only air. She punched; again, nothing. Punch, kick, punch-

SMACK!

Her fist had made contact with their face. She heard them stumble. The pink bunny advanced, hoping to finally be able to defeat them. She heard the person dart away, in Duck's direction. The thief swiftly dodged him as Lexi yelled **"DUCK!" **to warn him. The oblivious mallard swung his arms in the air, hitting nothing. The black jewel behind him floated momentarily in the air.

Then Tech crept up, unseen from behind. He grabbed the thief. The gem fell to the floor; Lexi watched in horror -oh god the property damage they would have to pay for- when Duck caught it just in time. He held it triumphantly.

Tech and the invisible thief were still wrestling on the ground. The thief was quickly overpowering him. Their hands started wrapping themselves over his throat. Lexi ran forwards and did a roundhouse kick. The thief hit the nearby wall with a smack. Lexi heard it get up. It withdrew a weapon from what seemed to be thin air. It was a slim, silver sword, and it seemed to radiate power.

Lexi's eyes widened. Ace's guardian strike sword. How had they gotten it?

The thief stepped forward. Lexi was sure if she could have seen it, it would have been smiling. She braced herself. She had trained for sword-hand combat fighting, but she was rusty. That had only been with Ace; none of the others knew how to swordplay, so it had been two years since she had last practiced. She took a deep breath. There was one advantage the thief had lost: Lexi now knew where it was.

She felt energy in her held build, and unleashed a brain blast on it. The sword deflected it and it left a smoking hole in the right wall. She took two steps back as the thief came closer and closer. If she could get behind the thief, maybe she could send them to the ground, if she could kick them fast enough before they spun around, slicing her in half... There was no way she would be fast enough...

**"Rev!" **she shouted. She looked around for the roadrunner. Tech was trying to use his powers to manipulate the sword, but it must have been made of some special metal, because it didn't bend to his will. Duck was throwing eggs, but each were just deflected, and when one did hit the thief, it was only a sticky-goo one. Finally, she saw Rev, helping himself stand up. There was no blood on his head; his suit must have protected him. **"Rev!" **she repeated. His head snapped in her direction. **"Attack sixty-three!"**

He nodded as she took a step back, making sure to stay away from the thief while Rev executed the planned attack. In turn, Duck and Tech both stopped using their powers as well as the roadrunner ran over to the thief. It was obviously confused, for a moment, as Rev ended up behind it. It spun around, but the blade hit air. Rev was again behind it. The thief gave a sigh of frustration, as again they spun. Again, the avian was one step ahead.

He dipped down to avoid the blade, then kicked the thief in the back area of their knee-cap. They went flying. Rev was super fast, and his legs were stronger than before to be able to support the speeds; therefore, his kicks were way more powerful than a normal person's. Rev sprinted over, arriving in seconds, and he prepared to hit the thief again. Only he didn't know where it had gone. It had abandoned the guardian strike sword on the floor.

Rev turned, looking for any sign of movement. Tech was standing in front of the shadow gem pedestal along with Duck; Lexi's eyes were glowing; clearly she was trying to tune in onto any faint sound that may give the thief's location away. But she didn't have to for long. Tech groaned as a fist punched him in the gut. He crumpled to the floor. Duck went to grab the gem and quack away, but something kneed him in the groin, and he too fell. Something picked up the jewel. Rev ran over, but he couldn't find anything to hit. The gem too had disappeared. Lexi brain-blasted in a random direction. No noise -she had missed.

Then, suddenly, the thief's whole body can into view. They were wearing a cloak, which masked all of their face except for dark, piercing eyes. On top of the cloak's hood was a red, spiral-shaped mark. In its hand was the jewel, and it was glowing. The thief turned and darted away. Lexi tried brain-blasting again, but the thief, somehow, dodged the otherwise perfectly-aimed shot. Rev ran after them, and was closing in on them, when the gem glowed brighter, and some sort of force blew him away. He hit the wall on the other side of the room.

Lexi watched the thief run down the corridor from the jewel room and into the statue room. Halfway through, as she ran after them, the thief simply vanished. Confused, she ran further; nobody else was around. Thinking the thief must have employed their cloaking device again, she knew it was futile to go one on one, and she couldn't hear anything beside the other's breathing and her own footsteps.

She sighed. Most of the missions she had led had been fine, but once in a while, the villain got away. Very rarely had that ever happened to Ace. She walked back to the jewel room to check on her friends. Tech and Duck had gotten up; the prior was checking on Rev. Tech hoisted him to his feet and put Rev's limp arm around his own shoulders.

**"I'll carry him back to HQ," **the coyote said. The three remaining anthros that were on their feet left the museum, Rev's feet dragging slightly on the floor. Once they had exited, Tech adjusted a strap on his jet pack. A string attached itself to Rev's armor. With that done, he nodded to Lexi and Duck. Together, they turned on their jetpacks and soared through the sky, heading back to HQ, thinking about what had happened, especially Tech.

The memories, the thief, the jewel... He would tell Slam, Lexi, Duck, Ace and Rev (once the last two woke up, that is) what he had seen, and what he was suspecting. Maybe there was more truth to this legend then he had initially thought.

* * *

**A/N: ASAP enough for everybody? Good. :) As you probably noticed, this chapter was longer than my usual length -yay! Gradually, I'm hoping to increase the chapter word count more and more, which might mean you'll have to wait longer, but this didn't take long at all, so we'll have to see. So, you get to find out some of Ace's childhood, his parents, mysterious stuff, and this thief. If you have any suggestions, or suspicions, let me know; I'm all ears. Also, I hope you enjoyed the action scene with the thief. I'm getting better I think, personally, writing action scenes every time I do another one. If you have any tips, or suggestions for making my action scenes better, thanks. :D**

**Lastly, please review. :)**


	5. The Threat

When the Loonatics got back to HQ, Ace was awake.

While they were gone, Ace had woken up and had put on some fresh clothes (again, like his room, the old clothes that he had left behind had never been dealt with). He had to admit, having a clean white t-shirt and clean, baggy jeans on felt good. Before, they had been kept on because his injuries had been the biggest problem. The pajamas he had worn the previous night had been a nice change too -so was having a warm bed to sleep on. His smile faded when he saw the four Loonatics' serious faces.

**"Something went wrong?" **he asked, moving over on the couch so Lexi could sit next to him. Thinking hard, she took the spot, Tech also sitting beside her. Slam took an entire armchair to himself. Rev beat Duck to the second one, so he squeezed onto the couch with the others.

Tech sighed. **"Yeah, the thief got away, but that's not the biggest issue. While you were asleep, I touched the ring, and well, something-"** he searched for the right word, **"-happened. I saw some of your memories." **Ace looked at him with a mixed expression that Tech couldn't identify, and although hadn't meant to see the memories, he felt ashamed for going into his former-leader's private recollections.

Finally, Ace spoke. **"So that's why I remembered some." **Excitement and uneasiness welled up inside him. It was good to know that by touching the ring, or maybe by other methods, eventually, that he could get his memories back. But the memories he had seen while he slept, they weren't good. They were horrible, and the grief of knowing that those images weren't a dream weighed him down. Oh god his parents... He stared blankly at the floor, thinking mostly about the first memory. He had been happy with them... he sighed wistfully.

He glanced at the odd birthmark on his hand. Somehow, he knew it had something to do with what had happened to him, and why he had lost his memories... another thing he had lost.

Lexi put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, and she smiled softly, silently telling him "It'll be alright". He smiled a little.

**"Well," **he said after clearing his throat. **"A-at least I'm remembering things." **A pause. **"So, what's been happening since I was unconscious?"**

They all began telling about what the legends had said. About the Shadow Lord and the Shadow Walkers. Lexi told how she had seen the spiral-shaped mark on the thief's hood. Ace took a deep breath, taking all the information in. Only once Duck had said Shadow King (the first time in the conversation) did anything happen.

The ring glowed.

They all stared at it. It must have been a trick of the light right?

**"Shadow King..." **Lexi said uncertainly. Again the ring glowed. Okay, so it wasn't a trick of the light... but then what was it? Ace picked the ring up and examined it. It was old, and boxish. It was gold, but worn down and dirty. The inscription was still there though, clear as day.

**"Shadow King," **Ace repeated. The ring glowed, and so did the mark on his hand. His head suddenly hurt. Images of people in cloaks with dark eyes, always the same red mark on the hood swarmed into his mind. He clutched his head. None of it made any sense. He cursed under his breath in frustration.

* * *

Zadavia watched from the Loonatics' security cameras, worried. She was sitting in a chair, in her own HQ. A tiny holographic figure was listening in to her.

**"They're figuring it out faster than I expected Xi," **she said to the figure. It was wearing a hood, and it had a spiral shaped mark on its hood, although the cloak was white, and symbol was blue. **"What should I do?"**

**"Keep at the distance," **Xi said. It was a man, and the voice was old. **"At least for now. We need to keep them safe, and keeping them ignorant is best for now. The more they know, the easier the Shadow Lord will be able to find them."**

Zadavia pursed her lips. **"I still feel like I should warn them..." **she looked towards the screen, worse case scenarios entering her mind, each worst than the last.

**"Zeta!" **Xi barked. Zadavia flinched at the sound of her true name -her shadow name. **"You cannot let your concern for them govern your actions. The universe is more important than any individual's safety. Now, have you contacted Omega?"**

**"Yes, I have contacted by brother Optimatus," **she answered. **"He is in the Shadow Maze as we speak." **She cleared her throat. **"Now, what do you want me to do?"**

**"Seek out Kya. Perhaps she will know how the-" **Xi caught himself just in time. He couldn't reveal too much information in case this call was intercepted. **"Kya may have some important information. Go quickly. If my suspicions are correct, we do not have much time. Afterwards, you may tell the Loonatics all you know." **Xi bent down, and the hologram phone call ended.

Zadavia got up from her chair and lifted the hood of her cloak, which was like Xi's. White, with the blue spiral symbol on the hood. Her eyes hardened. She took one last look at the screen, where the confused Loonatics sat. She wished she could tell them, but she couldn't. She took a deep breath.

Then she exited her HQ, intent upon finding Kya, the only Shadow Walker who wasn't in the maze already. Thinking of her brother, she sent up a prayer to whoever was up there. He couldn't close the portal, but he could delay the Shadow Walkers at least, and hopefully, that would be enough time to save the world.

And if it wasn't... Well, there wouldn't really be a world left to save.

* * *

Ace was excited to be handling the guardian strike sword again. (Tech had picked it up from the museum before helping Rev to his feet.) Slowly, Ace had been remembering more of what had happened as a Loonatic -like when he had passed out in the kitchen earlier. And slowly, the emotions he felt towards the others had been getting stronger. Especially to Lexi.

Now, a few days after the museum of mythology break in, the others had deemed him well enough to begin training again. For some reason, after Tech had done a full body scan, his laser vision and optical enhancement were gone. Had simply vanished. Although disappointed, since he could remember what it was like having them and fighting with them, he was still happy to train again.

At first, with the sword, he had been rusty. But after a few moments, to his astonishment, he was even more skilled than before. New moves were coming naturally to him, some of them he had never heard of just came into his mind. They all saw this as a good thing; maybe, eventually, he could start going on missions again.

That was one of the most frustrating things. He could remember the missions; the fighting, the fear, the team, the good things, the laughter. But he couldn't remember the three weeks before his departure, the three weeks where he learned or found something that made him leave. He spent hours during the day, in between training and when the others had missions without him (although strangely, Zadavia hadn't called once, only the police), trying to remember.

It was these hours -when he mercilessly strained himself, and yelled at himself in anger- that kept him restless, and up late at night. Sleeping had always been hard for him, even in the past. Tonight was no different than the previous ones. Such was the reason that he was out on the balcony that came off of the main room.

The wind was chilly, but he found it refreshing. It helped clear his head, let him think straight. He thought of what had happened today. He had talked with Tech about reconstructing the broken memory machine; he had broken up a fight between Slam and Duck about who stole who's cookies; he had played a quick round of video games with Rev (the roadrunner had beaten him every time); he had sparred with Lexi. He smiled, but it quickly faded. He could see why he had fallen for her before, and now as well, but if there had been anything between them, he was sure it had broken. How could she trust him now?

He sighed, again feeling angry. The gray bunny tried to distract himself by looking over the city skyline. It sure was beautiful, with all the twinkling lights, looking like stars. It was a full moon tonight, he noticed. It looked awfully pretty up in the sky; like a big, glittering pearl in a dark ocean. Too bad he couldn't see all of it -one building was so tall it chipped away a piece of the moon. Then something caught his attention; someone had darted across the roof's building and leaped over to another skyscraper... wearing something that looked like a cloak.

Panic filled him. Cloaks, normal people didn't wear cloaks. That thief wore one, according to the others... was it the same one? But if it was, why wouldn't it just turn invisible? The person jumped again, far further than another person should. Dread settled in his stomach. He should go get the others, right now. But would he be able to get to the elevator in time to wake them, assuming none of them were going to the bathroom? He doubted it. Luckily, he always carried his sword on him, and right now was no exception.

He took the sword hilt out of his pajama pant pocket. The blade sprang up, casting a faint glow in the dark. The person was leaping closer and closer every time, and adrenaline rushed through his veins. Seven buildings away. Would he be strong enough to fight them? Five buildings away. Did they possess any powers, like the other one did? Three buildings away, two buildings away... Would he be able to defeat them?

The person landed on the balcony. Ace stood to the side, hidden in the shadows, holding his sword to his side. The person took off their hood, revealing a pointy face with dark eyes, sharp features, and choppy dark hair that fell to her (for it was clearly a young woman). She smiled; a forked tongue slid out between her thin lips.

**"I can tell you're all alone," **she said in a raspy, quiet voice. **"Come out, come out little one... I will kill you quickly, I promise..." **She stepped out from the balcony into the main room. Ace watched her intently. Her fingers were unusually long.

Once she had moved towards the couch area, searching for him, he stepped out of the shadows. **"Eh, I wouldn't bet on that doc." **The woman spun around, hissing.

**"Ooh," **she said and smiled. **"The most powerful Chosen, all alone... how convinent..."**

**"Chosen?" **Ace asked, confused and momentarily taken aback. Chosen... What could that mean? And most powerful... what was this lady blabbing on about? Did she know anything about how he lost his memories? **"Look, if you wanna attack me, you should at least tell me why."**

She cackled, flashing him a twisted smile. **"Oh, but you already know -well you _knew._"** Ace gritted his teeth. Really, she was taunting him about it now? She aimed a kick at him, but he dodged and raised his sword.

Smiling with thin lips, she pulled her own sword from thin air. The blade glimmered, and there was an odd look about it, as if the blade itself really was thirsting for blood. Their swords clanged together.

**"And anyway, it won't matter soon. The plan will be activated and you-" **She stopped abruptly, as if listening to something, although the gray bunny couldn't hear anything. Did she have super hearing like Lexi? **"Well, it looks like I need not tell you. My master calls. Ego vobis valedico, rabbit." **She turned on her heel, sprinted towards the balcony and jumped over the side.

Ace rushed forwards, still wary in case this was a trick, and bent over the balcony. There was no trace of the strange woman, except for...

He squinted. It was hard to make out in the dark, but he could tell what the symbol was. Somehow, there was a red, large, spiral-shaped mark, swirled identically to the one on his right hand. Dread filled him as his head pounded.

The symbol, the symbol was very, very important. Very old. Very dangerous. And he knew, somehow, that it was connected to the Shadow Lord.

And that meant, that somehow, this mythological man, this monster of Shadows, was very much indeed alive, and very much wanted him dead.

* * *

_A/N: Cliffhanger! Well, sort of. I hope you guys liked this chapter. What else is Zadavia hiding, and what is to be revealed? Who is this strange woman who works for the Shadow Lord? Trust me, she'll have a bigger part later. Let me hear your suggestions. Also, for anyone who was wondering, what she says at the end is "I say goodbye to you" in Latin. Please review. :)_


	6. The Mark

Tech yelped and spun around, the wrench dropping to the floor and it clattered, as he looked testily at the male bunny who had disturbed him. The coyote had been working late on making a new-memory machine -hopefully this one would work- when Ace had just come barging in here, looking scared. Once Tech got over his initial annoyance, he sighed and slumped in his chair, looking at his former-leader expectantly. The buck looked very distressed. **"You look like you've seen a ghost," **he commented. **"Something bad happen?"**

Ace's eyes flitted nervously to his right hand, and then fiddled with his ring on the necklace. **"I was out on the balcony, thinking 'bout stuff, when I saw this person running across rooftops, in a cloak." **His teammate didn't say anything so he continued. **"The person was making huge leaps from rooftop to rooftop -like, _unnaturally, _and I realized they were going to come onto the balcony. I didn't want to try to find someone else and let this person have the advantage of surprise on us, so I hid in the shadows. Once I revealed myself to her, she started talking about something called 'Chosens' and how I was the most powerful or whatever. Suddenly, after we had only fought for a few seconds, she paused and said her master was calling her back... She jumped off the balcony and when I ran to see what had happened, all that was left was a dark red spiral shaped mark. Like the..." **He took a deep breath, feeling nervous. **"Like the one on my hand."**

He could feel Tech's green eyes studying him and looked down at his shoes. What would Tech think? The coyote got up from his chair, his brow furrowed in concentration. **"Let's go down to the street and have a look at that mark."**

The rabbit and coyote crossed the room and stepped into the elevator. It took them done to the bottom floor, which surprisingly only took a few seconds because of how fast the elevator could go, despite how large the HQ was. They stepped onto the street, a streetlight flickering. It was cold, and Ace wished he had a coat on.

The symbol was clear as day on the street. It was odd though -Tech bent down to examine it more closely- because it wasn't burned or carved into the ground, yet when the inventor pressed a finger to it, there was no visible residue, so it wasn't sprayed or painted on either. He moved towards the centre of the symbol, a chill running down his spine. He shuddered slightly and quickly stepped away. The red swirl gave him a bad feeling.

He sighed and pressed a button on his armor. A small, grid-like red light came out and scanned the mark then disappeared.

**"C'mon," **the coyote said. **"I need to run some tests on this." **They stepped back into the elevator which zoomed them back up to the 125th floor.

The two teammates walked to back to the lab. Tech pressed the same button of his armor next to a large, bulky machine. He typed something in as Ace peered over his shoulder. Tech hit the enter key, and a loading bar came up.

Ace, annoyed by its slow progress (only 20% after a minute), thought about the fight with the woman. She had heard something in her head, somehow she had disappeared. And he was a Chosen? What the heck was that? Maybe they could find something more about these 'legends' because it was the only thing that made sense. Ace glanced up at the screen. 99%. Now 100%.

He swallowed a lump in his throat as he read the answer. His brain went into overdrive. How could this be? It made no sense! He looked at Tech, wanting an answer -any answer.

The coyote was thinking hard. Would they be able to go in? He remembered what the snippet he and Rev had read about it: "_It is very tricky; many who manage to find one end up trapped forever." _He took a deep breath to calm himself. Science; he had science on his side, not just all this confusing fantasy stuff. **"We should go wake up the others." **

* * *

Feeling somewhat nervous, the woman with the dark choppy hair and cloak walked into the room. Her shoes clacked on the stones, and the sound echoed around in the otherwise silent room. She crossed the room, stopping before a throne. Moonlight filtered in from the skylight above, although the man -could he be called a man?- in the chair remained covered in darkness.

She knelt before him, speaking quickly. **"Why did you call me back Master?" **she asked. **"I could have killed him, ended the threat-"**

**"He does not know his own strength. Neither do you." **The man's voice was deep, raspy and cold, like knives scraping across stone. **"If you had challenged him, you would have provoked his ultimate powers. We cannot have that. He is only the main threat, but that insufferable Zeta, Omega and the others are still an issue."** He groaned once he had stopped talking. **"That rabbit was smart, using the ring the way he did... But no matter, I know the way to break him." **She thought he would be smiling, but he remained shrouded in darkness.

The man paused. **"Also, the Guardian Strike Sword. Incompetence allowed him to get it back... don't worry though, I have -ah- _dealt _with Brone. As it stands, you will take his place. Do not fail me like he did. We need to prevent those cursed Loonatics from discovering too much too soon... I need you to get them into the maze before they know the consequences, before Zeta and Xi can reach them. The quicker the better. You may go."**

The woman got up, bowed shortly, and turned to walk away. She had reached the doors and had a hand on the handle when the man called her, **"Oh and Kya?" **She turned, her black eyes looking into the dark room. **"Zeta is looking for you. Make sure she doesn't complicate our plans." **

Kya swallowed hard and nodded. Zeta was a formidable foe. **"Of course Master." **The chamber doors closed behind her with a thud.

* * *

The first day was hardest; Zadavia had no idea where to look. Kya, although she couldn't turn invisible like some of the Shadow Walkers, was skilled and sneaky. And a very good assassin. She would be incredibly hard to find. Worry also filled the Frelengian's stomach; hopefully her brother would be alright. Nothing was guaranteed about his safety though; Shadow Mazes were dangerous and scary, and even if Optimatus survived, well, his mind might become shattered beyond repair.

She also wanted to deal with this threat as quickly as possible to get back to the Loonatics. If Xi wasn't an Elder of the Council, she would've disobeyed his command. She didn't really care it that it would be a selfish choice if it meant keeping the Loonatics alive. However, she couldn't. Xi wasn't just an Elder, he was her Guardian too. Almost nobody could break the command of their Guardian.

_Except for Ace, _she thought, half-smiling. The smile vanished when she thought about the time he had broken her command; it had almost ended catastrophically. If Deuce had kept the sword... Well, her former-colleague was probably dead by now from the interrogation. Shadow Walkers didn't tie up loose ends; they cut them.

She sighed as she walked. Almost eight years. She had been on Acmetropolis for almost eight years. At least, in a row. She had visited many times. She had regretted having to tell the Loonatics the story -the lie, about her brother. But it would've been too dangerous to tell them the truth. To tell them that he lost his eye in a Shadow Walker attack on Freleng, that the Shadow Walkers had been the ones to send that second meteor, that they had at one point controlled Optimatus. He had broken free of his mind control, thankfully, otherwise things would've been far worse than even what Deuce could have done...

It was also interesting how everyone on Acmetropolis had accepted without a doubt, that the first meteor had come as an accident. She snorted. Accident! Not at all. Well, creating the super-villains had been accidents. But Lexi, Slam, Tech, Rev, Duck and Ace? They had been born with those abilities, and the Council of Elders had kept them dormant until the right time: Ace's 20th birthday. The meteor had been pulled towards the planet purposefully, allowing for the six Chosens to come together...

There was a reason Ace was a born leader. He was the opposite of everything the Shadow Lord was. And as for his teammates, they were the opposite of the Shadow Lord's siblings, all of whom had been corrupt before their untimely deaths.

Zadavia pursed her lips, delving deeper into the forest she was walking in. The moon shone in the sky. At that moment, she cursed the stupid prophecy, the thing that made it all happen. Quietly, she recited the lines to herself.

_"The Six shall walk the path alone,  
Sacrifices of blood, flesh and bone.  
Something of the Powerful shall be lost,  
And victory shall come at the highest cost.  
The Ring holds the key to all,  
The Universe, rise or fall,  
Kept in the hands of those above,  
Losing the greatest thing of love.  
The Six must be strong, in order to survive.  
However, when the time comes, one must die."  
_

Zadavia didn't want to know who would die, but she had a horrible suspicion. She wanted to keep Ace safe. She was his Guardian, it was her job. He didn't know of course, none of them knew. She inhaled a sharp breath. She couldn't dwell on the prophecy. Lines didn't always mean what people thought they did; they weren't always clear. Maybe nobody would die. Maybe the Shadow Lord would be the one who "must die". She highly doubted it, but she clung to the fragile hope in her mind._  
_

It also brought to mind the inscription on Ace's ring. Surely, it was the ring mentioned in the prophecy, but it also mentioned love. She had always thought Ace and Lexi would end up together... before this huge mess came along. Of course, romantic love wasn't the only type. It could be brotherly love, like the kind the team had for one another.

Suddenly, she stopped walking. Her muscles tensed. Zadavia's head whipped towards where the small rustle of leaves had come from. She could make out dark eyes. She drew her sword as Kya stepped out of the shadows.

Looks like the Shadow Walker had found her.

* * *

The Loonatics were in the lab. Lexi wrung her hands, Rev paced and Ace fiddled with his necklace. **"Are you sure Tech?" **the female bunny demanded. It, it was crazy.

**"Almost positive. And I think I know how to activate it too," **the inventor replied. **"I just don't know what's going to happen if we manage to enter it. It's supposed to be extremely dangerous." **He tried his best not to sound as worried as he felt.

Ace looked up at his teammates scared faces. **"You don't have to come. I can go alone." **

**"Don't be ridiculous," **Lexi admonished. She put a hand in his shoulder and smiled softly, looking at him. **"We're coming."** Then she realized what she was doing and retracted her hand. She stopped smiling and looked at Tech. She couldn't get too close; she didn't want to get hurt when he left again. But she had meant what she had said.

**"Yeah," **Slam agreed. He picked Ace up from the couch and hugged him, then set the bunny down gently. The Tasmanian didn't know what was going to happen, but he would follow Ace anywhere. **"We stick to-gether." **He had a little trouble saying the longer word, but he grinned down.

**"Yeah," **Duck said obnoxiously. **"We're not letting _you _have all the fun." **Rev nodded vigorously.

Ace smiled gently. **"Thanks..." **he said, his voice breaking slightly. Nobody had ever done something like this for him. Besides, he had a feeling he had entered the Shadow Maze before, and was glad he wasn't going in alone this time. **"Well," **he said and stood up. **"Let's go enter that maze."**

* * *

_{Please review}  
:)_


	7. Into The Maze

Zadavia took a deep breath, unsheathing her long daggers. Each were perfectly sharpened and as long as her arm. The hilt of each were wrapped in leather, and her fingers clutched them tightly. **"Looks like you found me Kya." **The female Shadow Walker chuckled.

**"Wasn't as hard as you might think," **she replied, as if they were old friends exchanging pleasantries. She had drawn her own sword. **"Your loosing your touch Zeta. Or should I say Zadavia?"**

To hear her normal name, the name that had been given to her from her mother, falling from those evil lips irritated her. **"It doesn't matter what my name is," **anger was obvious, but Zadavia forced it down. She couldn't afford to be distracted, not while about to fight such a skilled opponent. **"I won't let you hurt the Loonatics." **She stepped forward and slashed with her daggers.

Kya was surprised by such the sudden movement, and she side-stepped one, deflecting the other blade with her sword. Zadavia had gotten much better than in their last fight, years ago, and even then Zadavia had been skilled. Fear shimmered in the Walker's dark eyes for a moment at the intensity Zadavia was pressing into her, and she knew her best hope was to distract the Frelegian. **"I don't have to hurt them. Soon they'll be walking right into my master's hands."**

Zadavia resisted the urge to roll her eyes -too many minutes with Duck- at the likelihood of what Kya was implying. **"The prophecy defends our cause, not yours." **She moved her left foot forward even more and shoved Kya backwards. Kya stumbled but quickly regained her balance, quickly striking. Zadavia blocked the stab.

**"The prophecy also says one will die. What if it's your Liberi hmm?" **Kya taunted; it had the desired affect. Zadavia stiffened. In the Council, a Guardian was assigned to protect a Liberi, and hers was Ace. **"Not only would you have failed as a Guardian, the universe will be the Shadow Lord's."**

For a moment, Zadavia didn't know how to respond as the terrible thought plagued her mind. Finally she thought of something. **"My Liberi will complete his goal, I can assure you." **She hoped Kya didn't pick up on the fact she was more trying to reassure herself. She brought one of her daggers up to block a strike from Kya and spun, still locked with one dagger against the Shadow Walker's sword, swinging her other dagger over and underneath Kya's chin. She could hear the other woman's increased heart beat and her lips twitched upwards ever so slightly.

**"Now," **Zadavia said, the tiniest bit of pleasure creeping into her voice. **"Tell me about the Shadow Lord's plans." **There was no way Kya would speak, Zadavia knew, but she enjoyed having the Shadow Walker in such a vulnerable position. She might be able to force a little information out of Kya, with Xi's help.

But it wasn't over. Kya, quick as lightning, moved her head slightly away from the tip of the dagger, and kneed Zadavia in the stomach. Zadavia took a step back, just enough room for Kya to back flip over to a more open area. She exhaled slowly, frustrated that the fight was going to continue.

**"Alright," **she muttered to herself, shaking back her long blonde hair, **"let's do this the hard way." **The two charged at one another, blades clashing. Zadavia took one of her arms and lowered it to her hips, her palm still facing Kya. She felt the energy build and a rainbow erupted out of her hand, blasting Kya ten feet backwards. Zadavia rushed forwards, wanting to take the chance. She thrust her right dagger in the ground where Kya had been; the Shadow Walker had rolled out of the way just in time.

Kya too, began to summon her powers. Shards of blue, glinting glass shot out of her long fingernails. Zadavia had a hard time getting rid of all the five inch long shards. One grazed her shoulder and a small trickle of blood went down halfway to her elbow. She gritted her teeth, shooting another rainbow that Kya dodged but she scraped Kya's arm with her dagger, leaving a deeper cut. Sweat was running down both of their foreheads.

Kya swept her dark, choppy hair to one side, fully out of her eyes as she yelled and at least a hundred shards of glass flew at Zadavia. Her green eye's widened; there was no way she could deflect all of them. She slashed through glass, sending tiny pieces to the ground. More flew at her, and Zadavia blasted a quarter away with her rainbow power. She didn't get all of them though, and braced herself for the impact. Hopefully she could still defeat Kya, but her chances were especially slim now... She tightly closed her eyes.

A fierce wind blew through the area of the forest they were fighting in, powerful enough to sweep away the shards, leaving Zadavia untouched. She opened her eyes and quickly sprang up from the ground, smiling.

Kya, meanwhile, looked outraged. **"Curse you! Two against one isn't fair!" **she hissed. She glared at Zadavia. **"We'll meet again." **She turned on her heel and disappeared, a small red spiral the size of her foot left in her wake.

A figure in white robes with a blue spiral shape on the hood ran out of the woods. Zadavia sheathed her daggersas the figure lowered their hood with aged hands. **"Thank you Xi," **she greeted.

A thin, pale face lined with wrinkles and a pointed brown beard smiled at her, blue eyes crinkling in kindness, but with a sense of disapproval too. **"Much welcome, my Liberi. Still, you shouldn't have let Kya ambush you."**

Zadavia lowered her head slightly, ashamed at getting distracted. She wouldn't meet Xi's eyes. **"I am sorry Guardian. I am not always as careful as I should be. I will be better next time." **

Xi nodded, dropping the matter. **"Now, let's go take your ship back to the Loonatics. It's about time we explained some things."**

* * *

Rev was studying the red spiral in the pavement intently. It was an odd mark, something that would take skill to do, especially in such a short amount of time, since there were no rough edges; it was perfect. He zoomed around and stood in the middle; it felt weird and made his feet tingle so he stepped out, feeling a little afraid. But he said he would go with Ace, and he wasn't about to back out on his promise. He looked at his former-leader and Tech expectantly.

Feeling a little uncomfortable since they had never dealt with something like this before, Tech cleared his throat. **"Well," **he said awkwardly, but quickly regained his confidence. **"It appears this mark is a portal into the shadow maze, which will eventually take us into the Shadow Realm." **Since nobody spoke, the coyote hastily continued. **"Ace's ring should be able to activate the portal, but I'm not sure exactly how to activate it. We could be here a while." **

They looked at Ace, who sighed. **"I have a couple of ideas of how, I'm just not sure which one will work... Um, okay." **He picked up the ring with two fingers. **"Open the portal?" **he tried with no success. **"Take us to the shadow maze. Bring us to the shadow maze. Open the portal to the shadow maze?" **

Still nothing. Ace wracked his head for other phrases to use and his teammates also contributed and he repeated the words. After multiple tries, nothing had happened, and frustration was running high.

**"Stupid ring! Why won't you work properly?" **Duck yelled angrily. Lexi was glowering at it, Tech's brow was furrowed in deep concentration, Slam wanted to punch something (maybe a pillow) and Ace wanted to take his sword and slash the ring to bits.

Wait.

His sword...

Of course!

He took the hilt of the Guardian Strike Sword in his hands and uncapped it. He took the necklace off -he instantly felt woozy and weak, and almost fell over but Lexi steadied him- but nobody did anything, so he assumed nothing too bad had happened. Nothing had; unlike before when Tech had tried to remove it, Ace's appearance hadn't changed. It slipped the ring over the point of the blade. It slide down a quarter of the blade. Something stirred within Ace, and he found words rushing from his mouth he hadn't known before:

**"Deduc me ad patriam." **

With each word the ring glowed brighter, until they couldn't bare to look at it. Simultaneously they moved into the red spiral-shaped mark. Their eyes all glowed, each the colour of the uniforms they were wearing. (They hadn't known what to expect if they succeeded, so they had all changed into their armored uniform.)

Lexi felt fear build in side of her, and she placed her hand in Ace's. It took a moment for the male bunny to react, but he squeezed her hand reassuringly and didn't let go. A warm feeling went alongside her decreased fear. She wouldn't be going into the maze alone; none of them were alone.

The mark on the ground started to glow with the same way as the ring, until a beam of light from the tip of the outer part of the swirl and the inner were connected to the ring. Somehow, the world started to spin. Everything was blurring together. Ace felt bile rise in his throat and hoped he wouldn't throw up; he doubted any of his teammates would appreciate getting puked on at four o'clock in the morning.

It only took a moment for the spinning to stop abruptly. They all stumbled to the side, Duck falling over, but the rest managed to stay on their feet. Rev helped Duck to his feet. **"You-okay?" **

Duck snorted. **"Of course," **he replied, scoffing at the idea. The roadrunner rolled his eyes and mouthed 'Typical' to Tech who suppressed a smile.

Lexi realized she was still holding Ace's hand and let go, embarrassed. She couldn't get too close again. She decided to survey where they had ended up, like Tech. Ace looked at her and hurt flashed on his features, but he told himself to remain focused: figure out where they are was the first priority.

Wherever they were, it was a narrow, dark space. There was no visible light source, except for a faint one further on in the tunnel-like area. Ace simply looked at his teammates and jerked his head in the light's direction. They nodded. He put his ring back on and instantly felt better, stronger. He put his sword back in place and led the way, careful to put one foot ahead of the other in case the floor wasn't strong enough to support them and would collapse. Luckily, nothing happened, and after a few minutes they reached the exit.

The six anthros emerged on a hill over-looking a sprawling maze. The walls, some marble, some chained fences, some grass and some fire, wove in and out. They could see some dead-ends from their position but not all of the maze -it went on too far. Ace swallowed a lump in his throat and fiddled with his ring. They had to cross that? Oh God this was going to be difficult.

**"Let's head down there guys," **he said, trying to inject some confidence in his voice.

They headed down the hill and after a while, reached the bottom of it. In front of them were walls that looked like they stretched on forever. The only entrance they could see were a pair of huge silver gates. On one of the stone pillars on either side of the gates was a plaque.

_"Stranger, beware, the dangers that lurk in there.  
Beasts and creatures more horrible than man,  
those who go have hardly began.  
Take heed and go back the way you came,  
or else meet your eternal bane.  
But if you go forward as you wish,  
do not blame us if you perish.  
Perhaps you have the skill to survive,  
but if you don't you will surely die."_

**"Well that sounds cheerful," **Duck said sourly. Maybe it was because of how scared they all were, but they all burst out laughing.

**"Well," **Ace said thoughtfully. **"Guess there's no turning back."** Gingerly, he pushed open the silver gates, and they stepped into the maze.


End file.
